


The Sleeping Past

by The_Desert_Dancer



Series: The Wandering Cowboy [4]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Dead Money DLC, Excessive Swearing, Implied/Referenced Surgery, Old World Blues DLC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-03 06:20:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13335267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Desert_Dancer/pseuds/The_Desert_Dancer
Summary: As Courier Eli Cameron traverses Big MT and trying to survive this bizarre crater, he finds himself learning more about this mysterious courier called Ulysses, as well as learning more about the Sierra Madre and what the future holds for him. Rated M for adult language and themes. WIP!





	1. Uninvited Guests

**Author's Note:**

  * For [flooj9235](https://archiveofourown.org/users/flooj9235/gifts), [TinyFakeFanficRock](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinyFakeFanficRock/gifts).



This whole place was fucked up, the Courier decided as he looked around. He had lived a long life and seen some crazy shit in his time but this place, this Big MT…this took the cake and sent it straight to Crazy Town. Robo-scorpions, floating robot brain jars that were batshit crazy and the fact that he was currently missing several body parts, like his fucking brain. Eli had been hesitant at looking into a mirror, worried about what he looked like now after those crazy Think Tank fuckers had carved him up and ripped out bits of him. But surprisingly, there was actually one good thing in this entire fucking mess; they actually fixed his left eye, allowing him the ability to have perfect vision once again. It definitely was taking a bit to get used to, after months of only having one useable eye, but the Courier definitely wasn't gonna start complaining.

"What names do you go by?" One of the robot doctors, a woman called Dr Dala, inquired. "What titles have been bequeathed to you? What roles do you possess?"

"Well I go by many names." Eli Cameron answered. "But I guess you can call me the Courier, since everyone else seems to nowadays"

"Oh, a mailman. A delivery man. Someone who takes parcels from place to place using their primitive feet or similar conveyance." Dr Dala stated, intrigue evident in her voice. "You are the second one I've met in recent times. Very different specimens."

And just with that statement, Eli could feel his trigger finger getting itchy. First he ends up in this place with these robot scientist fuckers, then he finds out his body had been carved up and replaced with robot bits, and then this crazy one-eyed fucker Mobius with his robot scorpions, and now this fucking revelation. It couldn't be, Eli didn't wanna believe it, but he couldn't ignore it; this Dr Dala was talking about him.

"…..Another courier?" Eli inquired slowly.

"Of course. You must have met others in your travels. This one had met other couriers too, although it sounded as if he hadn't met the correct one." Dr Dala answered. "He asked us all many questions, and then he asked a most perplexing one…we had to segment the event from our memories for safety."

That didn't sound good, not at all. Ulysses not only managed to get into Big MT, but also managed to get a face-to-face with these crazy bastards? Yeah, that didn't sound good at all to the Courier, not good at all.

"What were some of the questions?"

"I do not know, nor should we try to access it. Perhaps Klein has the logs. My evaluation would be to let your own curiosity go. I do not think that Klein remembers the conversation as being satisfactory. You could also ask Dr 0 … and you could have asked Dr 8 once, until he was severely damaged in the attack. We like him better this way."

* * *

 

"Breaking News: Talking Lobotomite arrives in Think Tank." Dr 0 announced, as he turned around. "Its purpose? Unknown. Undefinable. Its presence here? Unpossible."

"Yeah yeah, heard this song n' dance before." Eli muttered. "So you're Doctor 0, right?"

"O? O yes, I'm not going to bother correcting you. At least you got the 'Doctor' part correct. I can be grateful for that, at l...Stop the presses! Just in from my eye monitors...is that RobCo tech on your arm? It is! What's your agenda, bringing that in here?"

"What, ya mean my Pipboy?" The Courier inquired, lifting up his Pipboy. "Gotta problem with RobCo?"

"How dare you bring that…that tech here! What, are you showing off? How great Robert House and his biiiiig company are, huh?" Dr 0 retorted, venom lacing every word. "'Oh! We can make Securitrons better than any robot that geniuses at Big MT can make, and they'll last a thousand years!'. Rrrrr, you're lucky I don't have hands to tear off that Dip-boy off your arm – or the feet to stomp on its stupid metal guts! Oooo, damn RobCo!"

The Courier had to admit, he didn't think he'd see the day where he'd meet a pissed off robot. But here he was, chatting with a floating brain that sounded ready to commit violent acts of murder. But Eli shouldn't have been too surprised – after all, given the power and influence of Mr House, it made sense that the man would acquire a few haters over the years.

"Woah there buddy, before you give yourself a coronary. Just wanna have a friendly chat, is all." Eli stated, a frown on his scarred face. "Just wanna talk to ya about somethin' important, like how you and 8 got attacked by previous visitors."

"I don't like to talk about it, and 8…well, he can't talk about it. They fried his voice module something good." Dr 0 admitted. "It wasn't all the visitors, though – only one of them got out of control. He's the one that took control of Little Yangtze, our old human farm."

Human farm? The wording there...that was not a good sign at all. He had heard stories, of course, of how the pre-War government would round up Chinese citizens and lock them up, accusing them of being spies. It was behaviour that made Eli's blood boil, and the man could only imagine what sick experiments this Think Tank performed on those poor bastards.

"What happened?" Eli inquired.

"This human…I can't believe it. He broke out of the Think Tank. In seconds. Then he went for Yangtze, got bomb collars, and started practicing on the subjects that were still there until he got the right frequency."

Oh boy, now this was something he wasn't expecting. Bomb collars? Frequency? That sounded like a certain batshit Brotherhood Elder, whose corpse was currently rotting away in the depths of the Sierra Madre. So this was the place Christine tracked Elijah down to and got her head cut up, huh? This place was just giving Eli more and more reasons to hate it. The Courier made a mental note that when he got out of this place, to nuke the whole fucking place and never come back.

"We were sending robots to stop him and he was slicing and cutting through their shells with some suped-up laser gun like they were cheese…paper. When he hacked into the mainframe, 8 tried to stop him and got fried." Dr 0 continued. "Me? He rerouted my processors to take control of the train network here. If you see the tunnels with the trains plowed into them, you can thank our visitor for that. He wrecked the whole place. While we were trying to keep containment on the surface, turns out he used one train to punch out a tunnel and escape…sealed now, but…"

"Okay 0, but who were the others?" Eli inquired. "Cause Dala told me that there were three visitors."

"O, two other human specimens. One arrived not long after the troublemaker…and the last one, not sure when he showed up. Thought the first one was going to be lobotomized in Y-17, she got out somehow. The last subject…Klein might know more. He talked to him, then let him leave the Think Tank. Hope he knew what he was doing."

"And why is that?"

"Klein knows things we don't. And I think Klein told some of those things to the last visitor. Dangerous things if they ever got out."

* * *

"Back again lobotomite?" Dr Klein demanded, a sour tone to his voice. "I hope there is a good reason for your being here sans any of the needed technologies."

"Kinda important reason, actually." Eli answered. "Heard one of the previous visitors to the Dome spoke to ya, asked you some questions."

"Hmm? Oh yes, the last visitor…well, the one just before you. had an interesting name from some language that's unpossible to speak. What did we speak about…? Melancholy fellow, had questions about…history? But…our conversation got interrupted…twice, I believe?" Dr Klein murmured, seemingly lost in thought. "Once when the trains got derailed, and then a second time…oddly enough, now that I'm accessing my databanks, I don't recall what the second time was. Mobius' incessant transmissions keep distracting me. Also, we didn't brainscrub the visitor. He may have left with some knowledge he shouldt've. I believe. Maybe. Oh well, I'm sure it's of no consequence. I don't make many mistakes in calculation or perception, so probability favours me."

The Courier just stood there silently, staring at the floating brain robot called Dr Klein. Of all the things Eli had seen so far, how this…thing managed to become the leader of this group continually proved to baffle him. But then again, when the rest of the group consists of an animal killer, a sex addict, a broken robot and a guy who's only talent seems to be breaking stuff…then yeah, it actually doesn't seem that farfetched.

But now things had become even more complicated for Eli. Not only did he now need to traverse this fucking crater and find all these technologies and take down this nutjob Mobius, he now needed to search through this place to see if there's any evidence of this courier, to see if he left anything behind that'd help out Eli figured out this mysterious fucker's identity. But at least now he has some idea on where to go; either head off to Little Yangtze and pick up Elijah's trail, hopefully to see if he could find this courier along the way, or get moving to this y-17 place and see what happened to Christine. Either way, there was really only two words to describe this whole situation.

"Fucking perfect." Eli Cameron muttered, running a hand through his hair.


	2. The Trail Of Elijah

This whole Little Yangtze place…it made Eli's skin crawl a bit, as he surveyed the camp. Brought back bad memories of his time in Legion territory, of the slave pens where prisoners where held and of the horrific treatment they received. Guess that the idea wasn't a Caesar invention; he probably just looked at some Pre-War books and decided to copy off of the old American Government's way of handling prisoners, especially those of Chinese heritage.

Worst part was the place actually wasn't deserted; there were still people here, if you could call them that. Their skin was heavily scarred, their clothes mere rags and their minds obviously fucked beyond belief, but some of the Chinese prisoners were still here in this fucking camp. The radiation and years hadn't been kind to these poor bastards, as they had turned into feral Ghouls. As Eli gunned them down, it wasn't done out of malice or hatred; no, it was done out of pity, to grant these prisoners some mercy.

But despite the Ghoul prisoners and the Legion-related memories, the camp hadn't bothered him too much, at least until he decided to inspect the watchtower. The smell of rotting flesh and copper hit Eli like a punch to the face, as he began inspecting the place; to put it mildly, it looked like a bomb had gone off inside of it. There were scrap bits of metal and electronics strewn everywhere, mentats littering every shelf and table top, and worn out books covered the floor. But what had caught Eli's eye was the corpse in the middle of the grown, surrounded by a dried pool of blood; its head was missing and wrapped around the corpse's neck was a bomb collar.

"Looks like Elijah's handiwork." Eli muttered, shaking his head. "Let's see if the old bastard left any presents behind…"

The Courier shouldn't have been too surprised by what he found; broken terminals, bomb collars, surgical equipment and other junk that would definitely be up Elijah's alley. The only thing that was particularly interesting to Eli was some kind of laser gun, with the words 'Elijahs LAER' etched into the side. Eli contemplated bringing the gun with him, before tossing it back down onto the ground; energy weapons definitely weren't his strong suit and carrying this around would only slow him down. Besides, anything that was created by that nutbar deserved to be left behind. '

Having searched the entire room from top to bottom, there really was only one thing left to do, and that was inspecting the nearby terminal. As Eli booted up the old computer and began searching through some of the files, skipping past all of the pre-War entries, he finally found something he was looking for; Elijah's entries.

_-x-x-x-_

_2nd day at pre-War concentration camp. Kept China citizens here before war. Radiation turned them, had to keep them in camp with collars (explains why some of these "slave collars" exist, always wondered, some were clearly pre-War tech). Researching the collar frequencies, touchy - circuit architecture is messy, de-constructing them taking time. Must be careful, can't be spotted by local robots, or insane brains from the Dome will try to haul me back there, then... research me._

_-x-x-x-_

_No sign of that Courier from before. He stays out of my way, I'll stay out of his. Been thinking about that "Sierra Madre" he mentioned... if he's right, I'd just need to find the casino radio frequency to track it down. Wouldn't need his help. If the working holograms and toxic gas are preserved there, might be easier to study them there with no robots to interfere. And those dispensers... might have a use for those as well._

_-x-x-x-_

_Day 4, still continuing research... found way to deactivate collar after some failures, just a few headless ghouls. It's been hard to go fishing in the camp without one trying to run the gate and their heads exploding. Damn collars, twitchy._

_...need to ration the Mentats, giving me migraines._

_-x-x-x-_

_While setting up the radios to monitor Dome and robots, thought I saw glint (scope?) from the building on the other side of compound._

_Should check it out, make sure I'm not being watched... might be that Courier?_

_Still, he would have come straight up rather than hiding. Instinct says it's someone else._

_-x-x-x-_

"Well fuck me…" Eli muttered, shutting down the terminal. "That fucking Ulysses…he was the one who told Elijah about the fuckin' Sierra Marde!?"

Eli stood up, the chair crashing down onto the ground, as the scarred man began pacing up and down. This man…this fuckin' courier, always fucking popping up over and over again, ever since Eli stepped foot in the goddamn Mojave. Not only did this fucker inadvertently cause Eli to get shot in the goddamn face, but now he was responsible for Elijah going to the Sierra Madre? Eli was pretty sure he was seeing red right now, knowing that that fucking Ulysses was responsible for leading Elijah to that hellhole.

Nah, this was it for Eli, this was the straw that broke the Brahmin's back. The Courier was sick of milling around, waiting for this bloody courier to send him a message. As soon as he got out of this goddamn Big MT, he was gonna find this fuckin' Ulysses and put a bullet straight into his skull, even if it meant having to rip the goddamn Divide in half searching for him. But that stuff could wait; right now, Eli was trying to follow the trail of a dead Brotherhood Elder and a scarred Brotherhood assassin.

* * *

 

Well Eli was definitely on the right trail, if this camp site was any indication. Right on top of the Signal Hills transmitter, Eli had stumbled across a camp site, covered in scrap electronics and mentats, with another LAER weapon and a ripped up sleeping bag. But what had caught Eli's attention was the torn paper he was currently written, penned by Elijah. At least, Eli was trying to read it; the Brotherhood Elder had god awful writing, with the words being packed in tightly together and looking wonky as hell; it was as if Elijah was high on chems while writing this, which given the amount of mentats around, wasn't that far-fetched...

 _Set up camp here after Yangtze attack. Too exposed here. Transmitter's vulnerable, hacked it, set up remote link so can access it any time. Need to find spot closer to north train tunnel with clear broadcast LOS to here. Canyons are too dangerous, can't go back to Yangtze - there is that weather station northwest that drew that Courier here, but going there sounds like trouble. For now, going to scout the Waste Disposal Site, then around the perimeter of that Securitron Plant, see if I can find a more defensible position_.

Eli felt a frown cross his scarred face, as he re-read the torn piece of paper. A weather station drew Ulysses here? Something just didn't add up here; all of the things that could possibly draw someone here, all the insane technology and scientific junk that littered this place, a weather station was what Ulysses wanted? Add into the fact that the Legion already had a weather station under their control and Ulysses was a part of the Legion…no, something definitely did not add up here.

"Or maybe I'm thinkin' about this wrong." Eli muttered to himself, as he pocketed the torn journal entry. "Maybe there's more to this than meets the eye…"

* * *

 

It was official, Eli hated all robots…well, except for ED-E. But besides him, all robots could go to hell. Having just spent what felt like hours, fighting off nutbar Securitrons and turrets and trying to not get his brains blown out, Eli could confidently say he never wanted to see another robot for the rest of his life. The only good part of this whole goddamn mission so far was that this was definitely Elijah's place; the modified Tesla Cannon and piles of mentats were definite give-aways for that. And even better for Eli, he found Elijah's journal, or at least what appeared to be the rest of it, as the Courier began to read it.

_This camp's better than the one I set up on top of Signal Hills roof, clear broadcast line to its radio tower and good vantage point on North Tunnel. Set up a turret perimeter and transmitter, should be able to control the trains via remote to escape before any robots come. The broken Securitrons make a good defense line, apparently brains in center Dome can't control them like they do the others._

_No sign of courier - or that woman. Turns out I was right at the Yangtze Camp, I was being watched there, probably Brotherhood assassin out to "sentence" me. She got hers, though. After the robot attack, saw her get hauled away to the southeast by medical robots... probably joined the lobotomite ranks here, don't have to worry about her anymore._

Judging by this entry, it looks like Eli had just hit the end of this trail. More than likely that after this, Elijah decided to head towards the trains and destroy them all, making his escape from this godawful place. But Eli definitely made a good idea to follow this pathway, given he know had even more reason for wanting to shoot down this bloody Ulysses. But first…maybe time to take a bit of a break from the search, and maybe find these 'technologies' those Think Tank fuckers keep complaining about. After all, the faster he finds them, the faster he can get outta this hellhole of a crater.


	3. Man's Best Friend

"Robodogs, nightstalkers, roboscorpions, fuckin' giant ass robodogs…" Eli muttered to himself, slowly shaking his head. "Too many fuckin' animals, that place."

This fucking place, this X-8 area…it was fucked up, to put it mildly. Eli had never been to a 'high school' and had only heard of it from pre-War Ghouls or from books, but he was pretty sure that high schools never had fuckin' turrets or cyberdogs patrolling everywhere. And he was definitely sure they wouldn't have a fucking giant cyberdog hopped up on Psycho and Buffout. But he managed to retrieve the damn technology those Think Tank idiots wanted, so he could get outta here and never look back.

The Courier heard a whine in response to his comments, causing the man to look down to his left. The cyberdog next to Eli had her head cocked to the side and was staring up quizzically, as if she didn't understand what the cowboy had just said.

"Not talking 'bout you, Roxie." Eli stated, patting the cyberdog's head. "You're one of the good ones."

To Eli's surprise, he managed to find an ally in this godforsaken place. Eli had just been fiddling around with a nearby terminal, wondering what on earth it would do. What he wasn't expecting was to create a cyberdog, much less one that was friendly. And while it was a surprise to Eli, it was definitely a welcome surprise; an extra pair of eyes would definitely help the Courier handle this place.

"Now come on, Roxie." Eli muttered, as the two exited the X-8 facility. "Let's go and wander."

* * *

 

 _'Well wasn't this whole fucking place just full of peaches and cream?',_ the Courier thought as he ran a hand through his greying hair.

When he started searching through this Big MT place, he thought he'd just have to collect some tech and that was that. Instead…instead, he was finding a lotta shit that just made his blood boil. Prisoner camps, children being used in experiments, animal abuse, and worst of all…worst of all, the Sierra Madre. These Think Tank fuckers were responsible for all of it, all the fucking things that happened in that godforsaken place. The ghost people, the fog, the holograms…all Big MT creations, and they were the reason that place turned into a damn hellhole. As if Eli didn't have enough reason to take all those floating brains to hell, this just added even more fuel to that fire. Also didn't help the Courier's temper when that Klein kept ordering him around, like he was some kinda dog, to find the rest of those damn technologies. You'd think after finding two of them, they'd be at least somewhat happy, but you'd be damn wrong…

Eli and Roxie wandered throughout the area, this Y-17 place, hoping to find something that could help him out. Maybe a new weapon, or even some armour, heck he'd even take an energy weapon right about now. The sound of barking filled the air, causing Eli to rush to where Roxie was. The Courier stopped dead in his tracks, as he noticed Roxie waiting in front of a cage. This cage had had its door torn to shreds, but that wasn't what had gotten Eli's attention. No, it was the symbol painted onto one of the pillars in the cage, a symbol that Eli knew quite well.

"Brotherhood of Steel…" Eli muttered. "This was where they kept Christine. Good job, Roxie."

The cyberdog let out a happy bark, as Eli bent down to pat her. The Courier was slightly disappointed with what he found in the cage, which was to say barely anything. Whatever Christine had on hand, she either took it or lost it somewhere else. The only thing that still remained inside of this cage was a holotape, covered in faint scratches and a thin layer of dust.

-x-x-x-

_"This is Christine Royce. Knight of the Brotherhood of Steel... the Circle. Not going to make it through this, hope someone finds this message, gets it to the Brotherhood in the West. Tracked a rogue Brotherhood Elder, Elijah, here, to the Big Empty._

_Place is more than it seems, there's a crater hidden deep inside. Junkyard of pre-War labs scattered across the crater's surface, all still running... like this one. Elijah's dissecting these centers, one by one... tracked him to an old Chinese-American internment camp. Survivors, ghouls, have bomb collars. Robots moved in when I tried to intercept him... Elijah sent the camp ghouls against us both, like walking bombs. Got hit by the explosions, woke up here. Guess the medical robots were programmed to bring wounded victims from the camp to this center. Some kind of Auto-Doc prototype lab... manned by corpses trapped inside suits that keep them moving, no idea why. Not sure how long I'm going to last... cut open my head like a lot of the humans I've seen here, feel strange, can talk, but can't hack the term..._

_...wait, an explosion outside. Someone's here... someone's..."_

-x-x-x-

As the holotape shut off, filling the facility with a tense silence, Eli couldn't help but let out a small grunt. So Christine was here, that much was certain…but that just left one question; Who had rescued her from this place? But as soon as the question popped into Eli's head, the answer soon followed. Who else would have rescued Christine, besides that goddamn courier? Unless there was some mysterious fourth visitor, or Elijah had some change of heart and decided to rescue Christine.

"Yeah, right." Eli muttered to himself, as he looked at Roxie. "So looks like our precious Ulysses decided to help out Christine. But why, that's the question…"

* * *

 

The Courier had expected many things in his travels, but this place…this was not one of them. And given the amount of crazy shit he had seen so far, that definitely was saying something. He had only managed to find this place after Roxie started barking like crazy and rushed towards the entrance to this place; Eli had to admit, this was a damn good hiding place.

This cave, this definitely reeked of a secret hide out. The ammunition boxes, the first aid kits, the barricades…all of this indicated that someone had set up camp here, and definitely had planned on staying here for quite a while. And while Eli wasn't usually a betting man, he felt confident in thinking that he knew who's hideout this was; a certain courier that seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at once, a courier who seemed to be always one step ahead of Eli and was a major pain in the Courier's ass.

While looting through this hideout, sifting through all the burned books and other assortment of junk, he noticed something; two holotapes, both slightly scratched like the one back at Y-17. As Eli picked the two holotapes up, he knew…he just knew that these two holotapes would be the key to figuring out this Ulysses fucker.

_-x-x-x-_

_"...don't want to argue philosophy with you. Brotherhood are preservationists. Tech in the wrong hands, it's dangerous. Mojave's proof."_

_"No denying that. Proof's here in this crater, all around us. Your tribe, the Brotherhood - haven't met many of you. Wanted to. Thought you might be the last chance for the Mojave... the West. The East. But you're all the same mind, obsessed."_

_"Elijah is obsessed. He's mad. It's why they ordered his execution."_

_" Two are more alike than you know, too wrapped in the wrong bits of history to see ahead. Not judging. I know how it is. People are like couriers, you and him. Sometimes don't even know the message they bring. You all had a new flag. Thought maybe new ideas along with it. What you believe isn't any better than the Bear or Bull. No future in either."_

_"So says the man with the Old World flag on his back. America, the Commonwealth... burned away._

_Ulysses: America sleeps. And until it's dead, I carry it. Just like I carried you. More than hope. Belief. There's voices here in the Big Empty, I want to talk to them. Not like your Elijah did. Got questions. Want to hear history give its answer."_

_-x-x-x-_

_"...didn't think you'd make it back."_

_"Almost didn't. Got my answers. Your Elijah, he met the Gods in this place, did a good job of making them question the way of things."_

_"Do you know where he went?"_

_"He's gone to the Sierra Madre. That's a special kind of hell. He won't come back. Someone smarter, tougher's going to kill him. If the Madre doesn't."_

_"I have to go after him."_

_"Not going to talk you out of it. Know what it means to track someone you share history with. Got a meeting of my own."_

_"That Courier?"_

_"Get him to come to me. Got a message for him, like the message he had for me. Make them walk the road west, straight and true, sink their feet in Old World ash. Let storms tear at them. See the Divide. See what happened."_

_"The Divide? There's nothing there."_

_"Nothing there? Like the Big Empty? The Sierra Madre? No, the Old World sleeps there, sure as the flag I carry. The Courier knows the way. And at the Divide, he and I - there, we'll have an ending to things."_

_-x-x-x-_

So that was what Ulysses sounded like, huh? It was definitely unique, Eli had to give him that. But also…very familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere before. But where? His memories had become jumbled and hazy ever since stepping foot in this place, this Big MT; might have to do with the fact his fucking brain got ripped out. But what was this about a message? He had sent a message to this Ulysses? When, and if so, what was this message? Whatever it was, Eli had a gut feeling it was tied to the Divide. As Roxie sat down on a nearby sleeping bag, staring up at Eli, it finally hit the Courier.

"Wait…" Eli stated, the gears in his head quickly turning. "The Divide?"

It all started to add up now, all the pieces clicking into place. The Divide, those winds, those storms…Ulysses wanted a weather station, but not of the Mojave. No, he needed one for the Divide, to see what was causing those damn storms. And what better place then here, where science ran rampant? But that could mean only one thing, that Ulysses was there when the Divide fell, which meant…

"Roxie, I think the Mojave may be in trouble." Eli stated, his heart beating like crazy. "The message Ulysses has for me, it's gonna be the same message I sent. He wants to fuckin' nuke the Mojave, turn it into the fuckin' Divide…."


	4. Judgement Day

"Oh, I see you and your Brain reached a compromise." Dr Mobius stated, as Eli and Roxie walked towards him. "How pleasant! I hypothesize after the indignant frequencies my receptors had…recepted, such a partnership-based conclusion would be…low on the 'likely' scale."

Courier Eli just offered the floating brain a curt nod, while Roxie let out a happy bark. Mobius seemed…harmless, like an old man who was slowly losing his mind and just stayed in his room by himself. Just didn't seem worth the trouble of putting him down, in all honesty. It reminded Eli of an old book, of a girl who travelled to a faraway world and killed a bitchy witch; Mobius reminded him of that wizard guy, what was his name…Oz, right? Yeah, that was the name, Oz. Mobius definitely reminded Eli of Oz; all smoke and mirrors and attempting to be intimidating, but in actuality just a harmless being who couldn't hurt a fly. The rest of the Think Tank, though…yeah, definitely in need of a leash.

But it was definitely a weird experience for Eli, having to chat with his own Brain. He…it, was disgustingly bitchy, something that the Courier couldn't help but be surprised at. It was his own brain, and yet it acted more like a pissed off teenager than the brain of a fully grown adult reaching the end of his road. Luckily for Eli he still possessed that silver tongue, managing to convince that whiny baby to join back up with the rest of him. And now…now was time to deal with Klein and the rest of the damn Think Tank. Because honestly? Eli trusted that group of weirdos about as far he could throw them, and he wouldn't wanna touch them with a ten-foot pole.

"Listen Mobius, the Think Tank needs to be stopped." Eli said, running a hand through his greying hair. "Can ya help?"

"If I recall…I had a plan that was working, oh, whatever it was. I don't think it reached fruition. I would recall fruit if it had happened." Dr Mobius muttered. "I wasn't trying to kill them, just keep them out of trouble. What was that plan? Blast! I probably…uh…wrote it down on the…floor somewhere."

"What was this plan?" Eli inquired.

"Something ingenious and needlessly complicated, I expect. I may have already told you and forgotten it. I forgot I had forgotten pencils until one day I found one. Spent days studying its purpose before my memory circuit kicked in. Felt quiet silly."

Silence soon fell inside of the Forbidden Zone, as Eli stared wordlessly at the floating figure of Dr Mobius. A sigh soon escaped Eli's dry lips, as he looked down and looked at Roxie. This…thing, somehow managed to not only create an entire army of roboscorpions, but also kept the entire Think Tank in lockdown, and yet he forgot what pencils were? Yeah, it just confirmed Eli's suspicions; Mobius was too far gone mentally to be any danger to anyone.

"Any tactics I could use to attack the Think Tank?" Eli inquired. "Any tips, or literally anythin' you can give me that'd be helpful?"

"That…will be difficult. It would be like fighting five scaled down versions of me that have better depth perception." Mobius answered. "And they have an arsenal of vivisectos, branial beams, and a rather nasty WooEEEOooWooEEEOoo ray that can make your atoms do a happy dance. If you could survive those highly-improbable odds and ends, then decreasing them is definitely an option. Although I doubt killing them would do anything except make you feel better. Or let you brag to other humans about your primal violent-ness-ness."

"…Or, I could be stoppin' them cause they're a group of batshit crazy scientists that would carve up the entire Mojave if I left them alone." Eli retorted, eyebrow raised. "Just my two caps, is all."

"Hmmm well that may be a possibility, I feel like we are splitting hares here." Mobius retorted. "…Or was it splitting bears? I remember distinctly Borous using that term of phrase before…or was it to describe one of his experiments? Too many memories in the old circuit board, not enough space to store them all….what were we consulting about again? I seem to have forgotten."

"Nothin' to worry about, Mobius." Eli answered, as he and Roxie turned to leave. "But I promise I'll try n' be diplomatic before I use my guns."

"Oh, but I do have an advice for you!" Dr Mobius stated. "The Think Tank is in possession of an invention dubbed the Big Mountain Transportalponder! The device, or invention if you wish to call it, can transportal you back home. So if you do wish to commit violent-ness tactics against the Think Tank, make sure you don't eviscerify the Transportalponder!"

* * *

 

It was a bloodbath, easiest way to describe the whole damn scenario, as Eli rested on the floor. The smell of melted plastic and burnt gel filled the air, with Eli struggling to not dry-heave from breathing in that putrid stench. Pain flooded his entire body and a dull headache caused his head to throb, as the Courier was injecting stimpack after stimpack into his battered body. Roxie hadn't faired any better, the poor girl's metal chassis covered in blast marks and was limping slightly.

The two barely stepped foot inside of the Think Tank before finding themselves being threatened by Klein and his cohorts, with threats of lobotimization and experimentation being thrown about like there was no tomorrow. And Eli had tried, he definitely did try, being diplomatic and talking down the whole situation. But…well, when that Borous nut tried to blast Roxie with one of his branial beams, Eli knew that any chance for a peaceful ending went straight out of the window. And hoo boy, was that a tough fight. For a group of nerdy brains in floating jars, they definitely managed to pack a punch. The Courier hated to admit it but…well, that fight definitely could have gone either way, if he hadn't stocked up on stimpacks back in The Sink. Eli's train of through was soon broken, as the sound of loud barking filled the air. As the scarred man slowly stood up, wincing at the pain in his joints, he saw Roxie sniffing around in the corpses of the Think Tank.

"Careful there, Rox." Eli muttered, shuffling forward. "Don't think it's safe to be sniffin' around there."

Roxie didn't seem particularly by Eli's statement, as she started sniffing at the pile of twisted robot corpses. Before Eli could stop the cyberdog though, Roxie let out a series of loud barks, before retrieving something from the pile of Think Tank corpses. It was a small orange detonator, covered in small scratches, with the words 'Big Mountain Transportalponder' etched into the side.

"Well...that's a good find there, girl." The Courier stated, as he bent down and patted Roxie. "First I gotta go visit the Auto-Doc, have 'im reunite me with my brain, then we can go 'n head back to the Mojave. After that…well, I know what I need to do."

* * *

 

Of all the things Rose of Sharon Cassidy needed right now, as she stood in front of the elevator of the Lucky 38, a bottle of whiskey was definitely high on that list. Well…a certain brown-haired scribe was on top of that list, but she wasn't gonna pop up anytime soon. Veronica was too busy at the Fort, helping Arcade and that Farkas chick out with improving the Followers' medical equipment. But honestly she needed something, anything really, to handle the pain in the ass she was currently facing.

"Miss Cassidy, I don't think you understand the seriousness of this situation." General Oliver stated, a scowl on his face. "The Mojave Wasteland is in danger, and the Courier has proven to be a man who routinely gets results–"

"And I'm telling ya, he ain't here." Cass growled. "Like I've told ya every day for the past month, Eli ain't here! He went walkabout and no-one has seen him since! And trust me, we've been asking everyone from Jacobstown to Novac. We've even had Boone volunteer to head off to Zion, in case Eli had journeyed back there."

"So you have said, yes." Oliver retorted, eyebrow raised. "But none of those searches were NCR-approved or conducted with NCR troopers. If you were to allow some of my men to search through a few of those places, like say Nellis Air Force or Red Rock Canyon, then we might be able to find the Courier."

"Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea." Cass retorted. "Having NCR troopers sniffing around Jacobstown, Nellis Air Force and all the rest of those places, ain't a good idea. That's just asking for a massacre, right there."

"Are you suggesting that I'm purposefully seeking to start conflict, Miss Cassidy?" General Oliver inquired. "If so, I'd suggest choosing your words a bit better. I could have you locked up right now for making treasonous remarks. Hell, I could have you locked up right now for conspiring with enemies of the NCR."

"I ain't no Legion snitch, General." Cass fired back, fury evident in every word. "How dare you even suggest that."

"Not the Legion, the Brotherhood." Oliver retorted, a sickening smile etched onto his face. "We know you have…intimate relations with a Brotherhood Scribe by the name of Veronica Santangelo, and have even visited the Brotherhood's Hidden Bunker. Sounds quite treasonous to me."

"Veronica isn't a member of the Brotherhood, she's washed her hands of them." Cass answered. "And anyway, the NCR and the Brotherhood have signed a treaty with one another. The war is over, General."

"Hard to 'get over' the war, when I was there on the day the Brotherhood attacked New Reno." Oliver answered. "Saw schools getting blown up, couples being gunned down in the streets, Brotherhood soldiers mowing innocent civilians down like they were nothing. A good many men and women lost their lives that day…How exactly do you expect me to 'get over' that, Miss Cassidy? The Brotherhood knows they're on the brink of extinction and so they will beg and plead for their lives, but you can bet your ass that they'll come back and attack us again."

"Funny thing, ya seem to be forgettin' an important part to that story." Cass answered, tipping her hat back. "Like how the NCR attacked three Brotherhood bunkers in the dead of night, blowing up all the entrances and clogging up all the air vents, leaving those poor bastards to slowly suffocate. Or how one of those bunkers was filled with kid Scribes, where none of 'em were older than eighteen? Or how about the fact that all of those Brotherhood soldiers 'n scribes died, just cause they were encroaching on NCR territory and the bigwigs didn't like that fact one bit?"

"Again, be careful what you're saying, Miss Cassidy." General Oliver stated curtly, an icy tone to his voice. "Because what you are saying can land you in a great deal of trouble, let me assure you. You don't fuck with the Bear, because its claws can reach pretty far."

The two continued staring each other down, icy glazes in both of their eyes, neither one seemingly ready to back down. At least until the sound of the door opening filled the air, causing Oliver and Cass to turn and look towards the entrance of the Lucky 38. Both of their eyes quickly widened in shock, as the Courier came slowly shuffling into the casino, with a cyberdog trailing after him. Cass and Oliver found themselves speechless, as they saw Eli Cameron making his way towards the two.

"Bit of a small welcomin' committee, but I'll take it." Eli stated, a wry grin on his face.

"Well fuck me…" Cass muttered. "You've finally brought your scarred ass on back here, and ya even brought a friend with ya."

"Her name's Roxie, and I think she n' Rex will hit it off quite well." Eli explained. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm headin' up to the Presidential Suite and I'm gonna take a nice long nap. After that, I'm packin' up a few of my weapons and heading back out again."

"I must argue against that, Courier Eli." General Oliver interrupted. "While we are happy to see you back, your services are needed. The Great Khans are stirring up trouble, by their constant appearance at Bitter Springs. The Fiends have barricaded themselves inside of Vault 3 and we've had little success in flushing them out. We also have reason to believe that Jacobstown is hiding Enclave soldiers, and that Legion troopers have been spotted all over the Mojave. We need you to–"

"Do your work again, General?" Eli inquired, turning to face Oliver. "Havin' to pick up the ball that you guys dropped, once more? Goddamn General, it's been five months since Hoover Dam, and ya still can't do shit by yourself?"

"I don't appreciate that tone, Courier." General Oliver growled. "You may have helped out the NCR at Hoover Dam, but that does not make you above the rules."

"I handed Hoover Dam to ya on a goddamn silver platter, General." Eli stated, as he turned around and made his way to the elevator. "And quite frankly? I could give less of a fuck right now about any of your problems. Now get outta my casino and don't bother me or my friends ever again, kay?"

"I am a General of the NCR, Courier." Oliver fired back. "Don't you dare take that tone with me, or I'm gonna drag you to the top of this casino and throwing you off the edge."

"And if ya do that, the entire of the Mojave is gonna be in deep shit sir." Eli responded calmly. "There's a mad man currently hidin' out in the Divide, tampering with pre-war Nukes, ready to bomb the entire goddamn Mojave. Do you really think I have any time to waste here?"

"Wait, what!?" Cass asked, eyes widening with shock. "What the fuck happened, Lucky?"

"And how do we know that this supposed threat is real?" Oliver added. "All the pre-war weaponry was destroyed when the Divide was turned into a hell on earth."

"No, there's still some left, I'm sure of it. We don't know because no-one survived long enough in the Divide to properly map it. Or rather, what's left of it." The Courier retorted. "And the more time we're wastin', the more chance there is of everything going to hell."

"Courier, this all seems highly–" Oliver said.

"I don't bullshit, especially about the Divide. You can either believe me or not, I couldn't give a shit." Eli responded. "But you try and stop me, bad shit is gonna happen. That nutjob is gonna nuke the Mojave and bring hell to us. He's gonna unleash a new Divide, slaughtering hundreds of people all in the name of revenge. Do you wanna have that on your conscious, General? Will ya be able to sleep at night, knowing you stopped me from preventing this whole fuckin' mess?"

"…Just get it done with, Courier." General Oliver answered, shaking his head. "But I'm sending a squad of rangers with you, to lend some assistance."

"Nah, I gotta go solo. I've seen what's in the Divide, all the fucked up shit that calls that place home. Its full of monsters and men twisted and poisoned, a place where good thoughts go to die. It's a place filled with death and destruction. Sorry General…but sendin' your men there would just result in a higher body count." The Courier responded, shaking his head. "I'm leavin' Roxie here, cause the Divide ain't no place for a cyberdog. The Divide…it's a road I gotta go down by myself."


End file.
